Born in Flagstaff, Arizona; spends professional life as astronomer in Flagstaff, 1931-1981. Early life in Flagstaff, the Lowell Observatory's place in it, and how he became a research assistant at Lowell, with particular emphasis on V. M. Slipher, the director from 1916-1955. Describes how the Observatory was transformed as a research institution after World War II, due to changing research topics and shifting patterns of patronage.